Monday, August 17, 2015

I received my 25th acceptance this evening, this time for a 7,000-word Weird Menace/Men's Adventure Magazine-type of story that's very much a throwback to the type of stories published in the late-'30s/early-40s.

Friday, August 14, 2015

I will be presenting "Writing Short Fiction for Fun & Profit," a one-day, hands-on workshop in San Jose, California, from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Registration fee ranges from a low of $30 to a high of $80, depending on various factors explained on the flyer.

Saturday, August 01, 2015

John Floyd's blog post at SleuthSayers.org, "Now, That's a Different Story," posed the questions "Do you always have certain markets in mind when you craft your stories? Do you write them and only then think of where they might be sent?"

I responded to John's question in the comments secetion following his post, but thought the response might be appropriate to duplicate here:

Much of my short crime fiction has appeared in non-mystery publications. Unfortunately, many of those publications have disappeared or have reduced the amount of fiction they publish.

For several years (details in the guest post I wrote for you a while back), nearly every piece of fiction I wrote was for a specific market, either by invitation of an editor, or to fit a specific call for submission, or because the editor had previously purchased several stories from me.

That changed a bit early last year for two reasons: 1) Publishing was shifting, causing some of my regular markets to dry up, and 2) I had several unfinished stories for which there was no obvious market.

I'm still writing most of my short fiction for specific markets, but I've also been finishing those unfinished stories that have no obvious markets. I've learned two things from doing this: 1) Some of the joy of writing has returned because I am not constrained by market limitations, and 2) My ratio of submissions to sales is turning to shit.

I'm writing in genres I've not touched in several years, submitting to editors and publications with which I have no pre-existing connections, and I'm back to the tried-and-true submission process of best market first and work down. This is a humbling experience. While I've received a few incredibly nice rejection letters of the "almost, but not quite" variety, I've also received a fair number of form rejections. And I'm not accustomed to seeing form rejections.

What's that Chumbawumba song? I get knocked down, but I get up again. That's what writers with long careers do.

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About Me

Author of 11 books and more than 1,500 shorter pieces (including more than 1,200 short stories), Michael Bracken also edits crime fiction anthologies. He is recipient of the 2016 Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer lifetime achievement award for short mystery fiction. His “Dreams Unborn” was named one of the best mystery short stories of the year by the editors of The Best American Mystery Stories 2005, “All My Yesterdays” and "Getting Out of the Box" received Derringer Awards, “Cuts Like a Knife” was short-listed for the Derringer Award, “Of Memories Dying” appeared on the preliminary ballot for the Nebula Award, and he has received many awards for advertising copywriting. Stories from his anthologies have been short-listed for the Anthony, Derringer, Edgar, and Shamus awards. Former Vice President of the Private Eye Writers of America and former VP of the Mystery Writers of America’s Southwest Chapter, Bracken is also an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and for many years was an active member of the Horror Writers Association. Additional information is available at www.CrimeFictionWriter.com.